It is well known that mechanical disturbances can be used to establish elastic waves in earth formations surrounding a borehole, and the properties of these waves can be measured to obtain important information about the formations through which the waves have propagated. Parameters of compressional, shear and Stoneley waves can be indicators of formation characteristics. In particular, wave velocity (or its reciprocal, slowness) helps in evaluation of the location and/or producibility of hydrocarbon resources.
One example of a logging device that has been used to obtain and analyze acoustic measurements of formations surrounding an earth borehole is a Dipole Shear Sonic Imager (“DSI”—trademark of Schlumberger), and is of the general type described in Harrison et al., “Acquisition and Analysis of Sonic Waveforms From a Borehole Monopole And Dipole Source For The Determination Of Compressional And Shear Speeds And Their Relation To Rock Mechanical Properties And Surface Seismic Data.” Society of Petroleum Engineers, SPE 20557, 1990. According to conventional use of the DSI logging tool, one can present compressional slowness, Δtc, average shear slowness, Δts, and Stoneley slowness, Δtst, each as a function of depth, z (slowness corresponds to an interval wave transit time typically measured by sonic logging tools).
An acoustic source in a fluid-filled borehole generates headwaves, as well as relatively stronger borehole-guided modes. A standard sonic measurement system includes a piezoelectric source and hydrophone receivers inside a fluid-filled borehole. The piezoelectric source may be either a monopole or a dipole source. The source bandwidth typically ranges from a 0.5 to 20 kHz. A monopole source primarily generates the lowest-order axisymmetric mode, also referred to as the Stoneley mode, along with compressional and shear headwaves. In contrast, a dipole source primarily excites the lowest-order flexural borehole mode together with compressional and shear headwaves. The headwaves are caused by the coupling of the transmitted acoustic energy to plane waves in the formation that propagate along the borehole axis. An incident compressional wave in the borehole fluid produces critically refracted compressional waves in the formation. The waves refracted along the borehole surface are known as compressional headwaves. The critical incidence angle is represented as θi=sin−1(Vf/Vc), where Vf is the compressional wave speed through the borehole fluid and Vc is the compressional wave speed through the formation. As a compressional headwave travels along an interface, it radiates energy back into the fluid that can be detected by the hydrophone receivers placed in the fluid-filled borehole. In relatively fast formations, the shear headwave can be similarly excited by a compressional wave at the critical incidence angle θi=sin−1(Vf/Vs), where Vs is the shear wave speed through the formation. It is also worth noting that headwaves are excited only when the wavelength of the incident wave is smaller than the borehole diameter so that the boundary can be effectively treated as a planar interface. In a homogeneous and isotropic model of fast formations, as above noted, compressional and shear headwaves can be generated by a monopole source placed in a fluid-filled borehole to determine the formation compressional and shear wave speeds. However, refracted shear headwaves cannot be detected for slow formations (where the shear wave velocity is less than the borehole-fluid compressional wave velocity) with receivers placed in the borehole fluid. Therefore, formation shear velocities are obtained from the low-frequency asymptote of flexural dispersion for slow formations. There are standard processing techniques for the estimation of formation shear velocities in either fast or slow formations from an array of recorded dipole waveforms.
Both the monopole and dipole waveforms recorded at an array of receivers can be processed by a modified matrix pencil algorithm that isolates non-dispersive and dispersive arrivals in the wave train. The compressional headwave velocity is the formation quasi-compressional (qP-) wave velocity along the borehole axis. The zero-frequency intercept of the lowest-order axisymmetric Stoneley dispersion yields the tube wave velocity (VT) along the borehole axis. The formation quasi-shear (qSV-) and shear (SH-) velocities are obtained from the low-frequency asymptotes of the two orthogonally polarized borehole flexural waves propagating along the borehole axis.
Sedimentary rocks frequently possess an anisotropic structure resulting, for example, from thin bedding, fine scale layering, the presence of oriented microcracks or fractures, or the preferred orientation of nonspherical grains or anisotropic minerals. This type of anisotropy is called formation intrinsic anisotropy. A dipole dispersion crossover is an indicator of stress-induced anisotropy dominating any intrinsic anisotropy that may also be present.
Failure to properly account for anisotropy in seismic processing may lead to errors in velocity analysis, normal moveout (NMO) correction, dip moveout (DMO) correction, migration, time-to-depth conversion and amplitude versus offset (AVO) analysis.
Typical logging devices such as the DSI are generally quite flexible and therefore approximately “acoustically transparent.” The advantage of typical flexible logging devices is the acoustic transparency, which allows any signal propagation through the tool to be ignored. Accordingly, typical sonic data is collected and processed independent of tool effects. However, it has been more and more common for users to demand logging information while a borehole is being drilled. Logging while drilling (LWD) or measurement while drilling (MWD) is commonplace, but the measurements or logs available while drilling are limited. Because of mechanical strength constraints imposed on the drilling collar, it is not possible to place flexible isolation joints between sources and receivers, nor to have a flexible receiver section to slow down the propagation of direct tool signals. As a result, if a dipole mode of excitation is used (which is the typical technique used for shear speed extraction in wireline logging operations), there is appreciable interference between the formation and tool borne signals reaching the receivers. Therefore, a quadrupole mode of excitation is currently most recommended for average shear extraction. See, e.g., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0000688, hereby incorporated in its entirety by this reference. However, measurements of shear (which is short-hand for average shear) while drilling, even using quadrupole mode, do not provide any information about formation anisotropy.